'  ■  TviewLs  oL. 

kUV-  —  ' 

WKirAi^e. 

INHUMAN  BLOCKADE 
STRANGLING 

\ 

A  NATION 

( 


) 


r 


1920 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


s 


OTHER  PAMPHLETS  PUBLISHED 

BY 

THE  FRIENDS  OF  UKRAINE 


1 .  Bolshevism  and  Ukraine.  Two  cents. 

2.  Ukraine,  Poland  and  Russia  and  the  Right  of  the 

Free  Disposition  of  Peoples.  By  S.  Shelukhin. 
Fen  cents. 

3.  Protest  of  the  Ukrainian  Republic  to  the  United 

States  Against  the  Delivery  of  Eastern  Galicia 
to  Polish  Domination.  1  en  cents. 

4.  The  Jewish  Pogroms  in  Ukraine.  By  Julian  Batchin- 

sky,  Israel  Zangwill  and  others.  1  en  cents. 

5.  Ukraine  and  Russia.  By  Woldemar  Timoshenko, 

Vice  Director  of  the  Economic  Institute  at  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  of  Ukraine.  Fen  cents. 

6.  What  About  Ukraine?  Editorials  of  Times-Picayune, 

N.  Y.  Times  and  N.  Y.  Tribune.  Five  cents. 

7.  Trade  With  Ukraine.  Ukraine’s  Natural  Wealth, 

Needs  and  Commercial  Opportunities:  I  he 
Ukrainian  Co-operative  Societies  and  Their  In¬ 
fluence.  By  Emil  Revyuk.  1  en  cents. 


Address  all  communications  to 

FRIENDS  OF  UKRAINE 

345  Munsey  Building  ::  ::  ::  Washington,  D,  C. 


1 


Inhuman  Blockade  Strangling 

a  Nation 


Pestilence  and  Famine  Threaten  Existence  of 
45,000,000  Souls — Their  Civilization  is 
Being  Blighted — It  is  the 
Nation  of  Ukraine 


READ  IN  THESE  PAGES 

“The  Prayer  of  Women ” — Being  a  message  from  these  innocents 
to  their  sisters  everywhere. 

“ International  Red  Cross  Mission  Report” — describing  Epidemics, 
Death  and  Famine  of  these  stricken  people. 

“Ukraine  the  Sorest  Spot  of  Europe”— an  illuminating  story  by 
Major  Fisher  Ames,  Duxbury,  Mass. 

“A  Letter  from  Ukraine” — giving  in  lurid  detail  account  of  what 
the  blockade  has  wrought. 

“Letter  from  Ukrainian  President  to  Supreme  Allied  Council 
asking  that  blockade  be  lifted. 


1920 

PUBLISHED  BY 

FRIENDS  OF  UKRAINE 

345  MUNSEY  BUILDING 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


A  PRAYER  OF  WOMEN 


The  Union  of  Ukrainian  women  addresses  the  following  appeal  to 
women  throughout  the  world : — 

Dear  Sisters:  For  two  years  the  Ukrainian  people  have  been  fight¬ 
ing  against  their  enemies  for  the  right  to  live ;  for  an  independent 
Ukraine;  but  the  Powers  will  not  recognize  that  right ,  and  are  pro¬ 
longing  this  sanguinary  war. 

It  is  in  vain!  The  entire  Ukrainian  population  stands ,  as  one  man , 
for  the  independence  of  Ukraine.  Every  Ukrainian  woman  has  risen 
in  defence  of  her  native  home  against  the  hereditary  enemies.  No 
one  will  be  able  to  conquer  this  force. 

In  these  incessant  fights  our  sons ,  our  husbands  and  our  fathers 
fall  on  the  field  of  honor ;  epidemics  are  spreading ;  we  have  not  the 
facilities  necessary  for  saving  our  wounded  and  sick;  they  perish  for 
want  of  medical  aid ,  for  it  is  forbidden  to  send  medicines  and  dres 
ings  into  Ukraine. 

We  do  not  ask  for  material  aid.  Our  country  is  rich  in  corn ,  and 
we  have  the  wherewithal  to  pay  for  everything,  but  we  address  our¬ 
selves  to  you,  our  Sisters,  and  implore  you  to  make  your  voices  heard 
in  your  Governments,  and  to  insist  that  the  prohibition  of  the  export 
of  medicines  and  sanitary  supplies  to  Ukraine  shall  be  removed. 

Our  Sisters,  you  who  mourn  for  your  husbands  and  sons  fallen  on 
the  battlefield  in  the  defence  of  your  country,  may  this  prayer  reach 
your  hearts ! 

And  to  you,  happy  wives  and  mothers  whose  husbands  and  sons 
have  returned  home  and  work  for  the  reconstruction  of  your  country, 
we  confide  the  lives  of  our  people. 

What  international  law  sanctions  this  inhuman  cruelty,  which 
allows  a  people  of  forty-five  million  souls  to  perish  without  med¬ 
ical  aid? 

Women  throughout  the  world,  the  Ukrainian  women  appeal  to  your 
heart  and  to  your  conscience! 


INTRODUCTION 


Why  have  thousands  of  Ukrainians  died  from  disease,  pestilence, 
cold  and  hunger,  and  from  the  rigors  of  needless  war?  Why  are 
other  millions  of  innocent  men,  women  and  children  at  the  gates  of 
death?  Why  have  they  suffered  agonies  that  cannot  be  told  in 
words,  misery  that  welcomes  the  relief  of  death? 

All  this  sorrow,  famine,  pestilence,  death  is  largely  due  to  the 
BLOCKADE ! 

Ukraine  is  located  in  what  was  Southern  Russia,  under  the 
czar.  It  is  a  republican  government,  with  area  of  330,000  square 
miles  and  population  of  45,000,000.  The  government  was  estab¬ 
lished  in  1917,  after  the  overthrow  of  the  czar,  with  the  seat  of 
government  at  Kiev. 

Ukraine  wants  the  blockade  lifted  in  order  that  she  may  trade 
with  other  nations,  obtain  food  and  medicines,  and  reconstruct  her¬ 
self.  So  much  the  better  if  the  blockade  is  lifted  from  all  Russian 
territory,  but  she  especially  speaks  for  Ukraine. 

Overrun  by  Enemies . 

At  the  present  time  Ukraine  is  mostly  overrun  by  her  enemies,  the 
bolsheviki  on  the  north  and  east  and  the  Poles  on  the  west.  Her 
rich  fields  are  the  battlegrounds  of  contending  forces  and  her  stores 
of  grain  and  minerals  are  the  prey  of  her  enemies. 

If  the  blockade  is  lifted  from  Ukraine,  her  loyal  people  can  take 
care  of  themselves.  After  the  Brest-Litovsk  treaty,  Ukrainian 
farmers  drove  the  Germans  out.  The  bolsheviks  came  and  the 
farmers  drove  them  out.  Denikin  came  with  his  armies  and  the 
farmers  drove  him  out.  Now  the  bolsheviks  are  back  and  they  will 
be  driven  out. 

More  than  70  per  cent  of  the  people  of  Ukraine  are  Ukrainians. 
They  will  never  submit  to  any  foreign  domination. 

In  1654  the  Poles,  Turks  and  Russians  were  their  enemies,  all 
contending  for  this  rich  area  belonging  to  this  distinct  nationality, 
the  Ukrainians.  Overwhelmed,  they  united  with  Russia  (Muscovy), 
but  were  to  have  autonomy.  The  czars  disregarded  all  agreements. 
The  Ukrainians  made  several  attempts  to  free  themselves,  and  finally 


5 


autocracy  was  overthrown  and  Ukrainians  regained  their  freedom. 
The  subsequent  Russian  governments  tried  to  subjugate  them.  Just 
now  the  bolsheviks  are  invading  Ukraine  and  hold  the  principal 
cities  and  the  railroads;  but  the  villages  and  rural  sections  are  held 
by  the  Ukrainians.  And  the  fight  for  freedom  continues. 

This  is  Ukraine’s  Prayer. 

Ukraine’s  plea  to  the  world  is  that  she  be  given  a  chance, 
that  there  be  rendered  to  Ukrainians  that  which  belongs  to 
Ukrainians;  that  her  innocent  people  not  longer  be  starved 
and  smothered  by  an  inhuman  blockade. 

When  the  facts  are  known,  no  valid  and  humane  reason  can  stand 
why  a  civilized  world  should  strangle  to  death  this  struggling  nation. 
There  is  plenty  of  evidence  of  the  conditions  that  exist  in  Ukraine. 
The  International  Committee  of  the  Red  Cross  sent  a  Mission  to 
Ukraine.  Major  Lederrey,  head  of  that  Mission,  filed  a  report  set¬ 
ting  forth  in  lurid  detail  some  of  the  terrible  afflictions  of  this  people. 
Because  of  its  official  nature,  it  is  here  published  almost  in  full.  It 
is  well  worth  reading  from  beginning  to  end.  There  are  parts  of  it 
that  would  almost  move  to  tears  one  with  a  heart  of  stone. 

The  Women  Plead 

Read  the  “Prayer  of  Women”  in  this  pamphlet.  They  are  just 
folks  like  us  all,  mothers,  wives,  sisters  and  daughters,  praying  that 
they  and  their  loved  ones  may  be  delivered  from  unspeakable  grief 
and  enjoy  some  of  the  peace  that  God  intended  should  be  the  share 
of  all. 

Then  there  is  the  letter  from  V.  Andrievsky,  written  from  the 
Heart  of  Ukraine.  Read  it  and  then  determine  whether  you  think 
these  distressed  and  tired  people  should  be  deprived  of  medicine  and 
food. 

Do  not  overlook  the  article  by  Major  Fisher  Ames,  Duxbury, 
Mass.,  well  known  to  Americans.  He  tells  what  the  American  Red 
Cross  Commission  to  Europe  discovered  in  this  blockaded  area. 

What  Ukraine  wants  is  told  in  President  Petlura’s  appeal  to  the 
Allied  Council. 

Let  us  end  this  travail.  Let  us  lift  this  inhuman  blockade.  There 
can  be  no  peace  on  earth  while  pestilence  and  misery  afflict  millions 
of  people.  If  statesmen  think  so,  God  have  mercy  on  their  souls ! 


45,000,000  People  Facing  Disease,  Starva¬ 
tion,  and  Death  Reports  Ukraine 
Red  Cross  Investigator 

Vivid  account  of  the  horrors,  pestilence,  and  famine  that  afflict 
Ukraine  is  given  in  a  report  made  by  the  International  Red  Cross 
Mission  to  Ukraine.  The  report,  in  part,  which  goes  into  details  as 
to  suffering,  needs  of  the  poeple,  and  the  local  causes  of  the  terrible 
conditions,  follows : 

REPORT  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  RED  CROSS  MISSION 
ON  THE  SANITARY  SITUATION  OF  UKRAINE 

Documentations  Lacking. 

It  has  been  most  difficult  for  me  to  obtain  exact  documentation 
upon  conditions  in  Ukraine,  because  of  the  state  of  extreme  disor¬ 
ganization  in  which  the  country  is  at  this  moment.  Statistics  either 
do  not  exist  at  all,  or  they  are  inapt  to  give  a  real  idea  of  the  situa¬ 
tion.  I  visited  ten  hospitals  at  Mohyliv,  Zhmerinka,  Proskuriv  and 
Kaminetz-Podolsky.  The  principal  data  here  set  forth  were  obtained 
by  talks  with  the  sanitary  staffs  of  those  institutions.  I  distributed  a 
questionary  at  the  different  hospitals.  In  this  way  those  in  charge  of 
nearly  all  the  sanitary  institutions  of  Ukraine  were  enabled  to  help 
throw  light  on  the  subject. 

Sanitary  Organizations. 

Mr.  Ivan  Rychlo,  the  Chief  Surgeon  of  the  Ukrainian  Army,  uses 
four  physicians  and  his  jurisdiction  extends  over  the  front,  while  the 
rear  depends  directly  upon  the  War  Office. 

In  Galicia  the  Chief  Surgeon  of  the  Army,  Dr.  Boratchinsky,  has 
under  his  direction  three  physicians.  Nearly  all  the  hospitals  have 
been  militarized  and  you  may  find  even  women  among  the  patients  of 
a  military  lazaret.  The  hospitals  belong  either  to  the  cities  or  to  the 
Zemstvos  (boroughs)  or  to  the  Red  Cross.  At  Mohyliv  are  a  Jewish 
hospital  and  a  military  lazaret. 

All  these  establishments  receive  their  principal  means  of  subsistance 
from  the  State. 


7 


Originally  the  Zemstvos  gave  free  medical  help  to  the  population. 
Now  they  accept  none  but  pay  patients.  Patients  pay  in  money  or  in 
food  for  their  beds,  consultation  and  medicines  and  furnish  their  own 
bandage  material.  Consequently  the  main  part  of  the  civilian  popu¬ 
lation  remains  without  medical  help.  From  the  standpoint  of  the 
struggle  against  epidemic  diseases,  this  circumstance  is  very  important, 
because  the  poor  classes  who  are  more  easily  subject  to  the  contagion 
receive  no  help. 

I  think  that  a  short  extract  from  Dr.  Ilnitzky’s  report  upon  the 
sanitary  organization  of  the  Zemstvos  will  be  welcome  here. 

4 ‘The  whole  territory  of  the  Government  of  Podolia  (4524  square 
miles)  with  its  population  of  4 y2  millions  of  inhabitants,  is  divided  in 
400  medical  districts,  supervised  by  the  local  Zemstvos.  These  dis¬ 
tricts  used  to  have  a  doctor,  two  or  three  Samaritans  and  midwives 
and  a  like  number  of  subaltern  medical  attendants.  About  60  of  those 
districts  possessed  a  small  hospital  of  10  or  15  beds  for  non-contagious 
diseases  and  five  or  eight  for  epidemic  diseases.  The  other  districts 
possessed  no  hospitals  and  had  only  ambulatories. 

“Formerly  when  the  Zemstvos  could  give  gratuitous  medical  help 
the  district  physicians  stood  a  chance,  by  isolating  the  infectious 
patients  and  adopting  proper  sanitary  measures,  of  averting  the 
danger  of  the  disease  spreading  over  the  country.  In  case  of  greater 
or  more  serious  epidemics  the  Zemstvos  used  to  build  isolating  bar¬ 
racks  and  act  with  the  utmost  energy.  The  material  means  for  this 
kind  of  struggle  were  furnished  by  the  Zemstvos  taxes.  The  State 
shared  these  expenses  only  in  cases  of  extraordinary  danger.  Since 
3916,,  owing  to  the  rising  prices  for  nourishment,  the  growth  of  epi¬ 
demics,  and  the  general  disorganization  they  have  brought  with  them, 
the  Zemstvos  are  forced  to  apply  for  help  to  the  State  Exchequer. 

“Nowadays,  when  as  a  matter  of  fact  all  the  Zemstvo  organizations 
depend  upon  the  subsidies  of  the  State,  the  State  itself  is  unable  to 
struggle  with  any  efficiency  against  the  epidemics  which  are  increas¬ 
ing  daily.” 

fer  j  1  f  ■  • 

Mi  !-; 

Reasons  that  Contribute  to  the  Development  of 

Epidemics 

1.  The  lack  of  knowledge  by  the  population,  which  is  completely  in 
ignorance  of  the  most  elementary  notions  of  hygiene. 


8 


2.  The  requisitions  of  sanitary  materials.  The  German  troops,  for 
instance,  left  to  the  people  but  a  third  part.  Then  there  came  other 
troops  which  continued  to  lay  drugs  under  requisition  until  the 
pharmacies  were  nearly  exhausted. 

3.  The  mobilization  of  the  medical  staff.  The  medical  staff  being 
constantly  enlisted  for  the  needs  of  the  army,  the  civilian  population 
remained  without  sanitary  attendance. 

4.  The  militarization  of  the  civilian  hospitals  has  rendered  the 
situation  still  worse.  The  patients  remaining  in  their  homes  communi¬ 
cate  the  infection  to  those  surrounding  them. 

5.  The  government  of  Podolia  is  situated  very  near  to  the  front. 
This  circumstance  prevented  it  from  easily  receiving  help,  while  on 
the  other  side  every  new  army  brought  new  epidemics. 

6.  At  the  end  of  the  war  the  disorganized  and  dislocated  Russian 
armies  passed  through  Ukraine,  taking  with  them  or  simply  destroy¬ 
ing  the  stores  of  sanitary  material  and  leaving  sick  soldiers  instead. 

7.  The  desolated  economic  situation  and  the  general  misery 
caused  by  the  war.  The  population,  weakened  by  privations  of  all 
kinds,  became  easily  the  prey  of  epidemics,  and  the  lack  of  soap, 
linen  and  disinfecting  materials  prevented  the  possibility  of  striv¬ 
ing  against  them  efficiently.  The  situation  is  getting  worse  daily. 
Pauperism  becomes  more  and  more  intense,  the  prices  are  growing 
steadily,  so  that  most  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  which  cost  now 
about  500  times  more  than  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  are  quite 
out  of  reach  for  the  main  part  of  the  population. 

8.  The  return  of  the  demobilized  men  to  their  homes,  which  have 

in  some  cases  been,  spared  until  now. 

9.  The  sanitary  staff,  which  is  particularly  exposed  to  contamination, 
has  succumbed  to  the  sicknesses  and  there  is  nobody  to  take  its  place. 
A  physician  told  me  that  he  had  to  do  only  with  dilettantes,  trained 
staff  lacking  altogether.  The  material  conditions  in  which  this  staff, 
overburdened  with  work,  is  living  are  not  fit  to  protect  them  from  in¬ 
fection  and  disease.  The  physicians  are  real  paupers.  They  get  the 
same  nourishment  as  the  patients  and  the  nurses  but  they  receive  for 
their  other  needs  and  for  supporting  their  familis  1,000  Karbovantzys 
a  month.  The  nurses  receive  720  Karbovantzys  a  month. 

10.  The  penury  of  means  of  transportation.  The  physicians  have  no 
horses  to  effectuate  their  visits.  The  ways  are  impossible  for  motor 
cars,  and  the  later  are  lacking  too.  The  railways  circulate  only  for 


9 


army  needs  and  that  too  very  rarely.  The  negligence  of  the  railway 
workers  is  such  that  between  Proskuriv  and  Zhmerinka,  where  there 
is  hardly  a  train  in  each  direction  once  every  three  or  four  days, 

there  was  a  collision  with  our  train,  one  car  was  totally  destroyed  and 
four  men  killed.  In  this  place  I  must  also  mention  the  fuel  crisis. 
There  is  much  wood,  the  hospitals  have  even  the  right  to  get  it  gratui¬ 
tously,  but  the  prices  for  transporting  it  are  so  high  that  the  hospitals 
have  been  obliged  to  abandon  this  source  of  fuel.  At  Zhmerinka  they 
felled  the  trees  that  gave  some  charm  to  the  hospital  gardens,  but 
within  a  short  time  this  source  of  supply  will  be  exhausted. 

11.  The  connection  between  the  administrative  centres  and  the  ad¬ 
ministrative  districts  nearly  failing,  the  problem  of  help  is  most  dif¬ 
ficult. 

Relief  Measures  Difficult . 

I  do  not  think  that  I  have  enumerated  all  the  contributing  causes 
which  have  overwhelmed  Ukraine  with  epidemics,  but  I  think  that  I 
have  mentioned  the  principal  ones  of  them.  Some  measures  of  relief 
ought  to  be  adopted.  It  would  not  suffice,  however,  to  send  sanitary 
staffs  and  materials,  it  will  first  of  all  be  necessary  to  bring  some 
order,  to  organize  the  state  of  things,  if  any  success  in  the  struggle 
against  epidemics  is  to  be  obtained.  It  seems  to  be  a  nearly  unsur- 
mountable  difficulty. 

The  Sanitary  Situation. 

Last  year,  exanthematical  typhoid  fever  and  the  Spanish  Grippe 
had  a  most  terrible  effect  upon  the  population.  Dr.  Gromatchesky 
states  that  almost  everybody  was  infected.  In  villages  of  abut  2,000  to 
3,000  souls,  half  of  the  people  suddenly  contracted  exanthematical 
typhoid  fever,  and  10  or  20  would  die  daily  from  its  effects.  In  some 
of  the  villages,  10  or  even  13  per  cent  of  the  inhabitants  died.  There 
was  almost  no  medical  care.  During  the  last  winter  and  spring  the 
Zemstvos  sent  sanitary  detachments  about.  But  when  in  every  house 
there  is  at  least  one  patient  who  should  be  completely  isolated,  50  or 
60  beds  amount  to  nothing ;  and  one  single  disinfecting  apparatus  can 
be  of  no  use  whatever  when  used  on  10,000  or  13,000  people.  There 
were  physicians  who  had  to  attend  to  a  territory  of  from  40  to  50 
kilometers  (25  to  31  miles)  in  diameter.  One  must  have  seen  the 
paths — they  cannot  be  called  roads — of  this  country  to  know  what  that 


10 


means.  Doctors  who  had  to  treat  about  20,000  or  30,000  patients  and 
could  get  no  medical  supplies  generally  had  to  give  moral  encourage¬ 
ment  to  their  sick. 

Conditions  Worse  Now. 

This  was  last  year.  But  this  year  it  was  even  worse. 

Typhoid  and  other  epidemics  are  increasing  to  unknown  propor¬ 
tions,  the  means  of  fighting  them  decreasing  daily.  Last  year  there 
were  few,  but  some,  medical  supplies ;  now  there  are  practically  none. 

Of  the  sanitary  personnel  20  per  cent  are  dead;  they  died  at 
their  tasks,  defenseless  victims  of  the  typhoid.  Those  who  re¬ 
mained  alive  wrere  mostly  drafted,  and  the  civilian  population, 
who  had  already  been  deprived  of  their  hospitals,  had  nobody  to 
care  for  them.  Then  came  the  “typhus  recurrens”  which  is  hav¬ 
ing  terrible  effects  at  this  time.  The  horrible  part  of  it  is  that 
one  may  contract  it  several  times.  I  have  been  told  of  a  Red  Cross 
soldier  who  had  it  twice,  and  who  also  had  had  exanthematical 
typhoid  fever.  Dr.  G-romatchesky  writes  me  that  there  are  hos¬ 
pitals  the  whole  personnel  of  which  is  sick.  He  also  states  that 
there  are  villages  with  many  houses,  every  inhabitant  of  which 
has  died.  Speaking  of  the  terrible  agony  of  Ukraine,  a  physician 
sorrowfully  depicted  the  situation  by  these  terrible  descriptive 
words:  “You  see,  it  is  this  way:  the  sick  are  awaiting  death,  and 
we  who  are  still  in  good  health  expect  the  disease.”  One  only  is 
able  to  understand  the  force  of  these  few  words  if  he  has  seen  the  de¬ 
spair  of  the  healthy  and  the  deep  misery  of  the  sick.  One  must  have 
passed  through  those  hospital  rooms  that  smell  of  rotten  straw,  have 
felt  on  oneself  the  deep-set,  haggard  eyes  of  the  feverish  patients,  have 
seen  the  unhappy  people  suffering  from  dysentery;  one  must  have 
observed  how  they  writhe  themselves  on  their  wooden  couches  almost 
unable  to  keep  from  screaming !  Generally,  their  bed  consists  of  two 
supports  carrying  some  planks  with  a  thin  sack  of  straw  or  chopped 
wood,  and  on  top  a  sheet  grey  with  dirt.  The  patient  on  this  couch 
often  has  not  the  smallest  blanket  to  cover  himself.  At  the  Mohyliv 
hospital,  the  sick  had  only  sacks  for  covers.  As  wood  is  scarce  and 
strictest  economy  must  be  observed  because  of  the  coming  coldest 
period,  the  windows  are  but  rarely  opened.  Instead  of  glass  panes, 
they  sometimes  have  wood  planks  or  pieces  of  cardboard.  The  smell 
is  indescribable,  as  well  as  the  general  condition. 


11 


Groans  Answer  Priest’s  Liturgy . 

One  of  my  most  emotional  experiences  was  a  mass  held  in 
the  cholera  ward.  The  priest’s  liturgy  was  answered  by  agon¬ 
ized  groans  of  about  thirty  sick,  whose  rags  were  as  contrast¬ 
ful  to  the  splendid  ceremony  vestments  of  the  priest  as  the 
incense  with  the  terrible  air  of  this  hell 

But  the  worst  memory  of  all  is  that  of  the  medical  center  of  distri¬ 
bution  of  Zhmerinka.  Sick  soldiers,  pale,  stumbling,  weak,  would 
almost  crawl  to  the  central  station,  where  other  sick  already  were  as¬ 
sembled,  filling  the  room  completely.  Some  of  them,  who  had  fainted 
on  the  way  were  lying  outside.  There  were  about  2,000  in  a  building 
intended  for  200  patients  at  the  utmost ;  dying  of  hunger,  for  there 
were  not  enough  people  to  take  care  of  them.  Some  of  them  died 
after  having  waited  four  or  five  days  at  the  same  place,  for  they  had 
not  had  enough  strength  left  to  move.  The  agony  of  these  must  have 
been  terrible.  Those  who  were  able  to  do  so  escaped  and  they  would 
infect  the  towns  with  the  epidemic,  entering  anywhere,  lying  down  in 
hallways,  on  staircases,  in  front  of  doors.  Everywhere  you  could  see 
these  erring  phantoms,  their  eyes  without  force,  everywhere,  even  on 
the  railroad  tracks,  where  they  hoped  to  find  a  train.  Where  to? 
They  did  not  care,  their  only  intention  was  to  get  away.  Two  of  these 
poor  invalids  who  had  boarded  our  train  were  found  dead  the  next 
morning.  One  of  them  had  slipped  into  one  of  our  disinfecting  ap¬ 
paratuses. 

I  do  not  intend  to  continue  a  description  which  my  pen  is  unable  to 
make  as  forceful  as  it  should  be.  None  but  Dante  could  do  it.  And 
yet  I  wish  with  all  my  heart  to  transmit  the  emotion  I  felt  at  these 
terrible  sights. 

Why  Do  We  Fortunate  Complain ? 

These  hospital  visits  made  upon  me  a  lasting  impression.  I  am 
sorry  that  the  people  who  complain  of  the  hardships  of  the  present 
time  are  not  able  to  see  the  ragged  people  of  this  country,  wearing 
underclothing  that  is  foully  dirty — for  there  is  no  soap,  and  laun¬ 
dry  facilities  are  lacking.  Some  of  them  have  kept  their  boots 
on  probably  for  fear  of  the  cold.  I  have  been  told  that  many  pa¬ 
tients  had  their  feet  frozen  in  bed.  I  saw  one  soldier  suffering 
from  typhoid  fever  to  whom  this  had  happened.  Some  of  the  ty- 


12 


phoid  wards  reminded  me  of  a  tailor’s  workshop.  Sitting  on  their 
beds,  with  crossed  legs,  holding  their  covers  or  their  clothes  in 
their  hands,  they  were  searching  them  for  vermin,  which  are  every¬ 
where.  As  long  as  one  is  in  Ukraine  it  is  absolutely  impossible  to 
escape  these  pests.  You  may  understand  how  great  the  danger  of  in¬ 
fection  is  if  you  know  that  both  typhoid  fevers,  the  recurrens  and  the 
exanthematical  are  transmitted  by  insects. 

Proportion  of  the  Different  Epidemics  Among  the 
Civilian  Population  of  Podolia. 

In  1918,  upon  a  population  of  4*4  million  souls  about  the  popula¬ 
tion  of  Switzerland,  there  have  been  registered: 

20,000  cases  of  exanthematical  typhoid  fever. 

12,000  cases  of  abdominal  typhoid  fever. 

21,000  cases  of  influenza. 

but  Dr.  Ilnitzky  believes  these  data  to  be  far  below  the  actual  numbers 
and  believes  the  total  of  all  cases  of  epidemics  for  1918  to  be  about 
100,000. 

For  1919,  the  military  situation  having  changed  considerably,  the 
statistics  are  only  drawn  for  one-half  of  this  Government.  To  be  able 
to  establish  a  base  of  comparison,  the  following  data  must  be  doubled : 
In  October  60,000  cases  of  exanthematical  typhoid  fever  had  been  reg¬ 
istered  (in  former  years  the  whole  government  of  Podolia  never  had 
more  than  10,000  cases  a  year)  and  80,000  cases  of  typhus  recurrens 
(formerly  60  or  70  cases.) 

Dr.  Ilnitzky  believes  the  mortality  to  be  about  four  or  five  per  cent. 

Mortality  in  an  Epidemics  Hospital. 

At  the  epidemics  hospital  at  Kaminetz-Podolsky  in  a  period  of  4J4 
months,  from  July  1,  1919,  to  November  13,  1919,  272  of  3,704  pa¬ 
tients,  or  7.3  per  cent,  died.  In  what  terrible  proportions  the  peril  is 
increasing  appears  in  the  fact  that  for  October  alone  the  mortality 
amounted  to  9.6  per  cent.  Cholera  made  its  appearance  in  Ukraine 
in  October  and  the  mortality  rate  is  58  per  cent. 

Epidemics  May  Spread  to  Other  Nations. 

These  very  expressive  data  need  no  comment.  They  are  more 
apt  than  my  pen  to  tell  the  very  serious  sanitary  situation  in 
Ukraine  and  to  narrate  the  terrible  danger  to  the  neighboring 


13 


countries.  As  yet,  other  peoples  do  not  seem  to  have  understood 
what  peril  awaits  them.  The  Poles  and  Roumanians,  absorbed  by 
their  problems  of  interior  and  exterior  policy,  seem  to  shut  their 
eyes  so  as  not  to  see  the  terrible  epidemics  which  are  about  to 
cross  their  borders.  The  only  proof  I  need  give  of  this,  as  con¬ 
cerns  Roumania,  is  the  fact  that  the  subaltern  Government  officials  at 
the  border  did  everything  they  could  to  hinder  and  embarrass  us. 
Of  course,  our  expedition  to  Ukraine  was  but  a  very  small  help,  but  I 
dare  not  apply  the  proper  term  to  human  beings  who  for  purely 
formal  reasons  detained  us  for  twenty-one  days.  Twenty-one  days! 
How  many  people  could  we  have  helped  in  that  valuable  space  of  time  ? 
How  many  human  beings  might  we  have  saved?  But  what  is  that 
when  a  functionary  wants  to  satisfy  his  bureaucratic  instincts.  I  have 
been  told  that  if  I  had  used  other  means  than  the  purely  legal  ones,  I 
might  have  interested  the  customs  officials  in  our  philanthropic  mis¬ 
sion,  and  the  police  might  have  been  interested  too. 

What  is  Needed ? 

I  now  come  to  the  practical  part  of  our  mission.  This  also  ends  my 
report.  In  the  conference  which  was  held  two  days  before  our  de¬ 
parture,  at  the  Public  Health  Ministry,  we  discussed  mostly  the  means 
of  helping  to  better  the  situation.  I  now  bring,  classified  as  to  their 
respective  urgency,  the  wishes  which  were  voiced  and  which  I  under¬ 
took  to  transmit  to  the  international  Committee  of  the  Red  Cross. 

Sanitary  Personnel  is  Necessary . 

a.  To  secure  the  co-operation  of  from  100  to  300  physicians,  who 
must  be  accompanied  by  sanitary  personnel  of  second  class  (nurses, 
etc.)  if  at  all  possible  Ukrainians  or  Slavs,  as  the  language  question  is 
of  great  importance.  They  must  be  told  that  their  position  shall  be  a 
most  difficult  one. 

b.  To  give  adequate  help  to  the  medical  personnel  to  make  them 
suffer  less  hardships  and  to  enable  them  to  fulfill  their  hard  task.  To 
this  effect  the  Ukrainian  Government  must  be  most  urgently  pressed 
to  increase  the  salaries ;  the  personnel  must  be  provided  with  the  cloth¬ 
ing  and  medical  fixtures  they  need. 

c.  To  send  as  many  hospitals  as  possible,  at  least  ten;  these  hospi¬ 
tals  must  consist  of  about  200  beds,  and  they  must  be  provided  with 
the  necessary  personnel  and  materials;  the  Ukrainian  Government 


14 


must  undertake  not  to  send  these  hospitals  farther  into  the  country. 
The  neighboring  states  would  be  highly  interested  in  safeguarding 
themselves  in  this  way. 

Materials. 

Classified  as  to  their  urgency  there  are  needed : 

a.  Bedding  :  At  least  10,000  blankets,  10,000  mattress  sacks  for 
hay,  20,000  pillow  covers,  30,000  bed  sheets. 

b.  Clothes  and  Linen  :  30,000  shirts,  30,000  underdrawers,  20,000 
towels,  20,000  dressing  gowns,  (20,000  pairs  of  stockings),  (3,000  op¬ 
eration  blouses  for  personnel),  (2,000  white  operation  blouses  for 
physicians),  (10,000  pairs  of  slippers). 

The  parenthised  objects  are  less  urgent. 

c.  Disinfection  :  From  10  to  100  simple  movable  steam  disin¬ 
fecting  engines,  200  portative  pulverisators  (like  those  used  in  vine¬ 
yards),  disinfecting  chemicals:  formaline  two  carloads,  sulphur  one 
carload,  phenic  acid  one  carload,  sublimate  1%  tons,  liquid  green 
soap  three  carloads,  lysol  eight  tons. 

d.  Medicaments:  (Y.  special  annexed  list.) 

e.  Instruments:  10,000  thermometers,  1,200  syringes  Nos.  13  to 
22,  1,000  meters  caoutchouc  exhausting  tubes,  2,000  caoutchouc  ice 
bags  (diameter  20  cm),  600  caoutchouc  physicians’  gloves,  1,200 
fingerstalls,  3,000  clysterpumps,  300  Richardson  hand  pulverisators, 
5,000  square  meters  of  caoutchoucated  linen,  2,000  Record  syringes 
for  1  gram,  1,000  Record  syringes  for  2  grams,  1,000  Record  syringes 
for  3  grams. 

Transportation. 

Considering  the  present  transportation  difficulties,  the  numerous 
car  changes  and  the  negligence  of  the  shippers,  the  following  remarks 
should  be  taken  note  of  so  that  the  materials  arrive  in  good  condition : 

a.  The  boxes  must  be  packed  very  carefully,  as  if  they  were  to  be 
sent  overseas. 

b.  They  must  neither  be  too  heavy  nor  too  big,  not  like  those  we 
took  along. 

c.  Some  medicaments  of  extreme  urgency  and  of  smal  size  might 
be  sent  by  airplane. 


15 


Credits. 

The  purchases  and  shipments  of  materials  should  be  attended  to  by 
the  Ukrainian  foreign  missions  under  the  patronage  of  the  I.  R.  C.  C. 
At  the  present  time  the  following  goods  should  be  imported: 

a.  From  Roumania:  Rolls  of  bandages,  which  probably  are  the 
former  property  of  the  Russian  army,  and  for  which  the  Ukrainian 
Government  offered  as  a  compensation  3,156  poods,  i.  e.,  50^  tons  of 
sugar. 

b.  Also  from  Roumania:  A  bacteriological  laboratory  which  the 
Roumanian  professor  Cantacuzene  had  put  at  the  disposition  of  his 
Roumanian  colleague  Zabolotny,  and  which  is  presently  at  Czernowitz. 

c.  From  France:  The  sanitary  material  belonging  to  a  lot  of 
merchandise  which  the  Ukrainians  have  bought  from  the  American 
Liquidation  Commission  for  about  $8,000,000. 

d.  From  Germany:  The  bedding,  medicaments,  and  caoutchouc 
which  Dr.  Ivholodny,  who  is  at  present  at  Berlin,  is  to  buy  and  to 
pay  for  out  of  a  sum  of  2,000,000  crowns  which  were  deposited  at 
the  Weiner  Bank  a  month  ago. 

e.  From  Austria  :  A  second  sanitary  train.  I  have  been  told  that 
the  Ukrainian  Mission  at  Vienna  has  at  its  disposition  a  sum  of 
10,000,000  marks  for  that  purpose. 

Promised  Aid  Did  Not  Materialize. 

An  American  Mission  visited  Ukraine  at  the  beginning  of  October 
and  promised  to  send  by  the  20th  of  the  same  month  some  Neo-Sal- 
varsan  for  the  treatment  of  the  typhus  recurrens,  opium  dilutions  for 
dysentery  and  different  oils  (castor,  glycerine,  etc.).  A  month  later 
nothing  had  been  sent  and  nothing  had  been  heard  from  or  about  the 
Mission. 

As  the  Minister  for  Public  Health,  Mr.  Odrina,#  was  sick,  his 
representative  told  me  that  the  Minister  would  gladly  accept  any  re¬ 
quest  for  credits,  which  might  be  made  by  the  I.  R.  C.  C.  to  the  effect 
of  bettering  the  public  health  of  Ukraine. 

(Signed)  Major  Lederrey, 

Chief  of  International  Red  Cross  Mission  to  Ukraine. 

Vienna,  Dec.  10,  1919. 

*  Odrina,  the  Ukrainian  Minister  of  Public  Health  as  well  the  head  of 
Ukrainian  Red  Cross,  Yiazlov,  died  recently  of  typhus.—^.  U. 


UKRAINE  THE  SOREST  SPOT  OF  EUROPE 


(Editor’s  Note:  The  conditions  in  Ukraine  are  of  great  concern  to  people 
everywhere.  This  country  has  been  called  the  sorest  spot  in  Europe.  The 
American  Red  Cross  Commission  to  Europe  took  cognizance  of  this,  and  Major 
Fisher  Ames,  Duxbury,  Mass.,  eminent  lawyer  and  author,  writing  from  War¬ 
saw,  Poland,  made  Ukraine  the  subject  of  a  special  article.  He  describes- 
conditions  that  should  appall  the  civilized  world.  Major  Ames’  story  of  this 
stricken  nation’s  tribulations  and  hardships  is  here  published.) 

By  Major  Fisher  Ames 
American  Bed  Cross  Commission  to  Europe. 

An  epidemic  of  bubonic  plague  is  reported  from  villages  on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Dniester,  in  Ukrainia,  twelve  kilometers  from  the 
Roumanian  border.  The  news  hardly  comes  as  a  surprise  to  those 
familiar  with  the  history  of  this  country  during  the  past  few  years. 
The  territory  formerly  controlled  by  the  Ukrainian  general,  Pet- 
lura,  is  probably  the  - unhealthiest  spot  in  Europe  today.  This  is 
not  due  to  any  fault  of  Petlura’s,  but  mainly  to  the  vicissitudes  of 
war,  which  swept  the  area  with  exceptional  virulence  and  frequently 
leaving  deplorable  conditions  in  the  wake  of  each  of  its  waves. 

Six  Years  of  War. 

Representatives  of  the  American  Red  Cross,  who  recently  in¬ 
vestigated  the  situation  there  found  that  the  rumors  that  had 
leaked  out  were  based  on  solid  fact.  Considering  the  war  rec¬ 
ord  of  Ukraine  this  is  not  remarkable.  It  has  been  the  scene 
of  fighting  since  1914.  In  this  area  was  anchored  the  southern 
end  of  the  Russian  line,  the  longest  battle  line  the  world  has 
ever  seen. 

At  an  early  period  the  Russians  made  an  advance  in  Bukowina, 
but  were  soon  driven  back  again.  Later  they  made  a  stronger 
thrust  and  sweeping  through  Bukowina  reached  the  Carpathian 
Mountains  and  looked  down  upon  the  valley  of  Hungary.  The  rapid 
victories  of  Mackensen  ousted  them  from  this  territory  in  1915. 
Then  followed  varying  fortunes.  The  Germans  and  Austrians,  suc¬ 
cessful  for  awhile,  were  forced  back  in  their  turn.  One  can  imagine 
the  state  of  this  wretched  country  over  which  opposing  armies  were 
alternately  advancing  and  retreating. 

Towns  and  crops  were  destroyed,  and  supplies  of  all  kinds  were 


17 


confiscated.  Diseases  were  spread  broadcast.  With  the  collapse  of 
the  Russian  army  in  1917,  the  country  became  the  scene  of  a  wild 
retreat,  when  thousands  upon  thousands  of  soldiers,  armed  and 
desperate,  who  sought  to  regain  their  distant  homes,  lived  on  what 
they  could  buy  or  seize  on  the  way.  There  was  no  order,  no  disci¬ 
pline  whatever.  The  Bolshevist  revolution  began  in  November  of 
that  year.  Many  of  the  stranded  Russian  army  became  infected 
with  its  doctrines  and  joined  the  Bolshevists.  It  was  a  time  of 
terror  in  Ukraine. 

Ukraine  Declares  Independence . 

In  December  the  Bolshevists,  through  their  leaders,  Trotzky  and 
Lenine,  made  peace  with  Germany  at  Brest-Litovsk.  A  month  later 
the  Ukraine  declared  itself  a  Republic  and  also  came  to  an  under¬ 
standing  with  the  same  power.  But  this  was  hardly  effected  when 
the  Germans  entered  and  occupied  Ukrainia,  placing  one  Skoro- 
padsky,  a  creature  of  their  own,  in  authority.  Skoropadsky  held 
on  until  the  overthrow  of  the  whole  German  structure  in  November, 
1918.  Simultaneously  with  the  signing  of  the  armistice  in  the  west 
the  Ukrainians  with  Petlura  at  their  head  rose  up  against  Skoro¬ 
padsky  and  drove  him  from  his  place.  Petlura  then  expelled  all  the 
German  troops  from  the  Ukraine -and  once  more  there  was  a  devasta¬ 
ting  movement  of  troops  across  the  country,  with  its  inevitable  residue 
of  the  disease  always  accompanying  such  large  bodies  of  men. 

Petlura,  now  left  to  face  the  Bolshevist  onslaught,  had  no  strong 
force  with  which  to  check  it,  and  in  January,  1919,  he  lost  the  im¬ 
portant  city  of  Kiev.  His  army  was  cut  in  two,  and  one  half  rapidly 
retreated  in  the  direction  of  Odessa  while  Petlura  himself  with  the 
other  half  was  driven  westward  and  eventually  into  Galicia.  Here 
he  was  later  joined  by  the  rest  of  his  soldiers  whom  the  Roumanians 
permitted  to  pass  through  Bessarabia. 

In  June  he  left  his  headquarters  at  Tarnopol  and,  moving  sud¬ 
denly  into  Ukraine,  seized  Kamenetz,  from  which  point  he  began  an 
advance  that  ended  in  the  capture  of  Kiev  from  the  Bolshevists.  He 
held  Kiev  only  a  few  hours.  This  time  it  was  Denikin  and  the  Rus¬ 
sians  that  opposed  him,  and  they  forced  him  to  make  a  hurried  evac¬ 
uation  and  return  to  Kamenetz.  The  tide  turned  so  strongly  against 
him  that  he  was  soon  obliged  to  flee  and  he  sought  an  asylum  in 
Poland.  But  today  he  is  in  the  field  again  and  Ukraine  is  still 
exposed  to  the  horrors  of  war. 


18 


The  Innocent  Suffer . 

From  this  brief  synopsis  it  is  possible  to  understand  some¬ 
thing  of  the  hardships  to  which  the  country  has  been  subjected. 
Without  probing  into  the  question  of  who  is  right  and  who  is 
wrong,  one  can  feel  sympathy  for  its  people,  particularly  for 
the  children  and  those  unfortunate  citizens  who  have  taken  no 
part  in  the  fighting,  but  have  suffered  equally  from  the  acts  of 
soldiers  of  all  the  armies. 

Hospitals  of  a  sort  are  scattered  throughout  the  country,  but  be¬ 
cause  of  the  lack  of  physicians,  nurses  and  medical  supplies,  many 
of  them  are  not  operating.  The  patients  are  mainly  soldiers,  and 
the  sick  civilian  has  a  poor  chance  of  entering  one  or  of  receiving 
any  kind  of  professional  aid.  In  consequence  the  death  rate  among 
the  little  villages  is  exceedingly  high. 

One  would  be  tempted  to  believe  after  reading  the  report  of  the 
Ked  Cross  representatives  that  admittance  to  most  of  these  Ukrain¬ 
ian  hospitals  was  by  no  means  an  advantage.  They  seem  like  mere 
accumulations  of  unrelieved  misery  and  dangers.  The  Eed  Cross 
report  on  any  one  of  them  applies  with  equal  force  to  all  the  rest. 
The  patients  are  fed  from  old  and  broken  dishes.  No  mattresses, 
sheets  or  blankets  for  the  “beds”;  no  cotton,  gauze,  or  pharmaceu¬ 
tical  supplies.  Sometimes  a  scanty  amount  of  bread,  or  oats,  but  no 
other  food.  The  window  glass  missing  and  the  windows  boarded  up 
to  the  permanent  exclusion  of  light  and  air.  There  is  little  or  no 
fuel  and  shivering  patients  are  stretched  out  on  bare  boards. 

At  one  town  650  patients  were  lying  in  cold  barracks  awaiting 
their  turn  to  be  moved  into  the  hospital,  and  outside  the  town  1500 
were  sick  in  their  homes.  There  was  no  means  of  disinfecting  these 
homes  and  typhus  and  dysentery  were  spreading  rapidly.  An  epi¬ 
demic  of  dysentery  is  expected  this  winter.  At  another  receiving 
station  200  sick  were  waiting,  there  were  only  two  beds.  *  One  of  the 
larger  hospitals  had  1370  patients  ill  with  typhus  and  dysentery 
and  fifty  per  cent  of  the  personnel  were  down  with  one  disease  or 
another. 

The  patients  here  did  not  change  their  clothes  for  three  or  four 
weeks  at  a  stretch.  The  majority  of  the  beds  were  boards.  The 
storeroom  “had  bottles  but  nothing  in  them,”  says  the  report.  The 


19 


few  surgical  instruments  were  old.  Medicines,  when  any  could  be 
procured,  brought  the  following  prices:  Quinine,  3000  rubles  per 
kilogram ;  aspirin  the  same ;  cocaine  50,000  rubles,  and  neo-salvar- 
san  900,000  rubles. 

At  another  hospital  no  new  garments  had  been  received  since 
1914?  and  those  in  use  were  literally  in  rags.  There  were  no  medi¬ 
caments  here,  no  soap,  no  bandages.  The  X-ray  apparatus  could 
not  be  run  because  there  wras  no  oil  for  the  dynamo. 

Hospitals  Filthy. 

At  Smerinka  1800  men  awaiting  places  in  the  hospitals  were  lying 
in  cars  and  on  the  ground  alongside  the  railroad  tracks  without  bed¬ 
ding  and  practically  without  attention  of  any  kind.  The  poorest  of 
food  was  being  served  at  the  hospitals  on  unwashed  dishes.  Flies 
and  filth  were  everywhere  and  the  closely  crowded  wards  emitted 
the  stench  of  pig-pens. 

More  than  100  men  lay  on  the  bare  floor  of  a  certain  receiving 
room  about  60  feet  long  by  20  feet  wide.  Filthy  attendants  were 
serving  them  with  wet  wheat  in  six  or  seven  dishes  which  passed 
unwashed  from  hand  to  hand.  Their  condition  wras  no  worse,  how¬ 
ever,  than  that  of  the  1059  sufferers  who  had  been  crowded  into  a 
hospital  built  for  210.  Three  doctors  and  one  of  the  attendants 
had  recently  died  of  typhus  at  this  place  and  four  doctors  and 
twenty-nine  of  the  sanitary  personnel  were  ill.  The  food  given  to 
the  dysentery  patients  consisted  of  bad  milk  and  soup  made  from 
oats.  Wooden  and  pewter  spoons  were  the  only  utensils  and  there 
were  only  242  plates  for  all  the  sick.  Many  of  the  men,  including 
the  dysentery  cases,  lay  on  the  floor.  The  rooms  were  filthy  beyond 
description.  There  were  no  pharmacy  supplies. 

The  generally  unsanitary  conditions  are  partly  accounted  for  by 
the  fact  that  few  of  the  hospitals,  or  the  towns  in  which  they  were 
situated,  had  an  adequate  supply  of  water.  Soap  and  disinfectants 
were  also  lacking.  One  hospital  was  not  able  to  provide  its  patients 
with  supper,  at  the  time  of  the  Red  Cross  representative’s  visit,  be¬ 
cause  of  the  lack  of  water.  Spotted  typhus  was  specially  prevalent 
here  and  most  of  those  taken  down  with  the  disease  died  of  it.  There 
was  a  great  deal  of  typhus  throughout  the  countryside,  brought 
there  by  the  soldiers  who  had  spread  it  from  village  to  village.  In 


20 


one  village  of  2000  practically  all  the  inhabitants  had  contracted 
the  disease. 

Water  and  Fuel  Scarce . 

The  extreme  scarcity  of  wood  and  coal  have  entailed  great  suffer¬ 
ing.  Few  of  the  hospitals  or  homes  are  adequately  heated  and  the 
cooking  of  food  is  often  a  problem.  Cases  exist  where  hospitals  are 
practically  without  water,  because  the  lack  of  fuel  prevents  them 
from  using  the  steam  pumps  attached  to  their  deep  artesian  wells. 
A  large  receiving  station  to  which  as  many  as  2000  patients  have 
been  brought  in  one  day  had  little  or  no  water  or  fuel.  Nor  was  it 
better  off  in  other  respects,  for  it  had  no  nurses  and  only  three 
doctors.  It  did  have,  however,  a  force  of  soldier  help,  but  fully  half 
of  them  were  ill  themselves.  Many  typhus  patients  were  wander¬ 
ing  about  aimlessly  in  the  vicinity  of  the  station,  not  knowing  where 
to  go  or  what  to  do.  A  group  of  70  wretched  creatures  huddled 
forlornly  together  on  the  railroad  track. 

Children  Have  Starved . 

During  the  past  year  25  per  cent  of  the  children  between  one  and 
five  years  of  age  died  for  the  want  of  food.  If  proper  nourish¬ 
ment  is  not  given  to  the  remainder  the  mortality  will  be  appalling. 
Mr.  Kiseloff,  Vice-President  of  a  local  chapter  of  the  Polish  Red 
Cross,  informed  the  American  Red  Cross  representative  that  if  the 
people  of  his  town  did  not  receive  aid  soon  a  great  many  would  die. 
The  same  cry  was  raised  in  all  directions.  All  the  inhabitants  of  the 
cities  are  living  on  the  verge  of  starvation,  and  ten  per  cent  of  the 
peasants  are  destitute.  One-third  of  the  people  of  the  towns  are 
without  shoes  or  clothes — unless  rags  count  as  such.  Ninety  per 
cent  of  the  children  are  unable  to  attend  school  for  this  reason.  The 
lack  of  salt  is  another  serious  factor;  if  this  need  is  not  relieved 
there  is  great  danger  of  an  epidemic  of  scurvy. 

The  whole  system  of  social  relief  has  broken  down.  The  people 
are  worn  out  by  war  and  the  formerly  wealthy  subscribers  to  char¬ 
itable  organizations  are  now  impoverished.  Hundreds  of  thousands 
of  individuals  are  separated  from  their  families  or  homes  and  of 
those  fortunate  enough  to  have  a  roof  over  their  heads  many  have 
little  else.  Furniture,  linen,  cooking  utensils,  even  doors  and  win¬ 
dows,  all  have  formed  the  spoils  at  one  time  or  another  of  the  various 
armies. 


Details  of  Terrible  Distress  Inhuman 
Blockade  Has  Brought 

A  LETTER  FROM  UKRAINE. 

As  long  as  head  and  stomach  are  in  peace  all  is  well.  The  head  and  stomach 
of  Ukraine  have  forgotten  peace.  In  Ukraine  is  going  on  not  only  the  war  of 
the  Bolsheviki  or  Denikinists  with  the  people,  but  also  the  war  of  the  hungry 
people  of  the  city  with  the  village.  The  city  does  not  give  anything  to  the  vil¬ 
lage  and  cannot  give  anything,  except  paper  money  and  that  of  municipal 
make;  there  is  now  a  special  currency  in  the  merest  cross-roads  settlements. 
The  blockade  has  alsolutely  ruined  commerce,  the  whole  manufacturing  indus¬ 
try,  and  has  thrown  upon  the  streets  the  hungry  workers  and  clerks. 

The  City  is  Dying. 

A  year  more,  probably  half  a  year,  and  Kiev  and  Odessa  will  become  grave¬ 
yards.  That  is  what  happened  to  Moscow  and  Petrograd  not  so  long  ago.  There 
will  be  a  revolutionary  order  and  revolutionary  discipline,  because  there  will 
be  no  one  left  to  strive.  In  six  months  of  Bolshevik  rule  in  Kiev  they  shot  30,000 
of  intelligentsia  and  workers,  in  Odessa  20,000.  And  one  does  not  know  who  is 
better  off,  those  who  have  been  executed,  or  those  who  are  dying  of  hunger,  cold 
and  epidemics. 

The  city  was  the  brains  of  the  land.  During  the  last  year  there  was  not 
published  one  scientific  treatise  by  the  Ukrainian  universities.  Nobody  cares 
about  science  when  he  is  hungry.  Laboratories  are  closed.  There  are  no  funds 
to  conduct  clinics. 

The  people  are  not  being  educated.  Who  cares  to  learn  when  the  well  edu¬ 
cated  are  condemned  to  the  death  by-  hunger,  and  a  student  requires  a  few 
thousand  of  karbovantzis  a  month  for  living?  High  schools  are  extinct.  Some¬ 
where  in  towns,  the  primary  schools  lead  a  miserable  existence;  the  hungry  in¬ 
telligentsia  try  to  keep  there  a  weak  flame  of  culture.  Book  stores  are  closed. 
Libraries  robbed.  Newspapers  are  worth  nothing,  architects  make  money  by 
wrecking  wooden  buildings  for  fuel.  It  is  now  more  profitable  to  sell  such 
buildings  for  fuel  than  to  repair  them. 

Mule  Food  For  Bread . 

Europe  does  not  imagine  a  hundredth  of  suffering  of  our  cities.  There  is  no 
bread!  This  means  that  Odessa  ate  for  months  a  dirty  black  bread  made  of 
some  mixture,  brought  by  Allies  for  their  mules.  There  is  no  fuel!  For  weeks 
even  the  children  do  not  see  warm  food.  In  order  to  get  water  to  drink  one 
must  look  for  a  spring.  All  the  water-works  are  closed.  Epidemics  are  in¬ 
creasing.  There  is  no  light.  At  4  to  5  in  the  evening  everything  drowns  in 
blackness  for  14  or  15  hours. 

Dying  for  Medical  Care. 

There  are  no  medicines.  This  means  that  when  your  wife  or  children  get  typhus 
or  other  maladies  you  must  look  on  helplessly  while  they  suffer,  rot  and  die.  A 
dose  of  salvarsan  has  been  costing  5,000  karbovantzi,*  the  medicine  that  cures 


*  Normally  one  Karbovanetz  equals  50  cents;  under  present  rate  of  exchange 
about  one  cent. 


22 


recurrent  typhus  in  24  hours,  and  if  it  does  not  cure  syphilis,  at  least  makes  it 
harmless  for  a  long  time.  There  is  no  clothing!  There  are  no  boots!  A  pair 
of  boots  was  sold  last  summer  in  Kamenetz-Podolsky  for  7,000  to  12,000  kar- 
bovantzi.  Shoes  for  2,000  to  3,000  karbovantzi;  a  suit  of  men’s  clothes  10,000 
to  12,000  karbovantzi.  A  fur  covered  with  cloth  could  be  bought  last  winter 
for  40,000  to  50,000  karbovantzi — now  it  cost  100,000. 

The  city  cannot  give  anything  to  the  village  in  exchange  for  bread  because  it 
has  nothing.  The  village  refuses  to  support  the  city,  because  it  suffers  also. 
The  village  is  dying  because  of  economic  ruin.  The  peasants  hiding  places  are 
filled  with  paper  money.  But  it  has  no  value.  One  cannot  buy  clothing  for  it. 
There  is  no  oil  or  salt.  A  pound  of  salt  costs  $1.50  to  $2.00  American  money. 

There  are  no  schools.  Driven  by  hunger  the  teachers  went  to  the  forests  and 
joined  the  insurgents.  There  is  no  paper  on  which  to  print  books.  The  phy¬ 
sician  has  to  pay  six  or  seven  karbovantzi  for  a  sheet  of  paper  on  which  to  write 
his  prescriptions. 

Use  Grain  for  Whisky. 

Grain  is  plentiful  in  the  villages.  In  great  stacks  it  lies  throughout  winter 
unthreshed.  There  is  enough  of  the  old  grain.  What  is  threshed  is  going  for 
homemade  whisky.  Probably  the  Ukrainian  village  never  drank  so  hard  and 
never  so  hopelessly  suffered  from  typhus,  cholera,  smallpox,  as  it  does  now.  The 
hospitals  are  closed.  Such  is  the  picture  of  Ukraine  just  now. 

Transportation  is  broken  down.  One  must  ride  sixteen  days  from  Kharkov  to 
Kiev,  a  distance  of  200  miles.  The  train  stops  every  half  mile;  it  has  to  either 
scare  away  the  bandits,  gather  wood,  repair  the  road,  bind  the  wheels,  or  put 
out  the  fires,  because  the  axles  catch  fire  for  need  of  oiling.  From  Odessa  to 
Zhmerinka,  about  150  miles,  the  journey  may  be  made  in  6  or  7  days 
if  one  is  lucky,  but  he  must  often  change  to  peasants’  wagons,  be  shot  at,  and 
risk  being  robbed  or  killed.  On  your  way  you  see  the  telegraphic  posts  cut 
down  or  upset,  wires  cut,  the  net  ruined  for  scores  of  miles.  The  work  of  in¬ 
surgents.  And  so  it  is  all  over  Ukraine.  The  trains  go  out  blindly  without 
knowing  whether  the  way  is  clear. 

The  authority  in  villages  is  held  by  those  who  are  more  fearless,  or  stronger, 
or  have  more  arms  and  rounds  of  ammunition. 

Everybody  is  tired.  Everybody  is  sick  of  the  unending  fighting  and  still 
more  unending  robberies  and  experiments.  There  is  only  one  desire  above 
everything  else;  peace  and  at  least  some  semblance  of  order. 

V.  Andrievsky. 

Kamenetz-Podolsky,  Jan.  1,  1920. 


PRESIDENT  PETLURA,  UKRAINE,  ASKS 
ALLIED  COUNCIL  TO  LIFT  BLOCKADE 

(Ukraine  is  Anti-Bolshevik) 


1  lie  I  resident  of  Ukrainian  Peoples  Republic  lias  the  honor  to  bring* 
to  the  notice  of  the  Supreme  Council  of  Allied  Powers  the  following* : 

Since  December,  1918,  the  Ukrainian  Peoples  Republic  has  been 
continuously  in  a  bloody  struggle  with  the  Bolsheviki.  By  her  own 
power,  and  without  any  outside  assistance,  the  Ukrainian  people  have 
defended  their  aspirations  to  national  independence.  The  best  sons 
of  Ukraine  strengthen  with  their  blood  the  building  of  a  sovereign 
national  state.  Thousands  of  Ukrainian  soldiers  fell  in  this  heroic 
struggle. 

At  present  Russian  communists  are  making  a  third  attempt  to  im¬ 
pose  their  government  on  Ukraine  and  the  people  of  Ukraine  now  rise 
once  more  and  they  shall  throw  off  this  foreign  yoke. 

This  struggle,  however,  finds  a  great  obstacle  in  the  blockade,  which 
by  the  order  of  the  Supreme  Council  of  the  Allied  Powers  was  in¬ 
stituted  against  Soviet  Russia,  but  was  applied  against  Ukraine  as 
well.  In  view  of  lack  of  real  force  to  stop  the  illegal  trade,  this 
blockade  is  only  a  source  of  profiteering  and  at  the  same  time  it  de¬ 
prives  the  Ukrainian  Peoples  Republic  of  the  possibility  of  supplying 
the  army  and  civil  population  with  medicines  and  sanitary  supplies 
for  a  successful  struggle  against  terrible  epidemics  of  typhus  and 
cholera,  which  are  killing  the  soldiers  and  civilians.  This  danger 
menaces  not  only  Ukraine  and  neighboring  states,  but  possibly  the 
whole  of  Europe  as  well.  This  fact  gives  the  Ukrainian  Peoples  Re¬ 
public  the  right,  which  is  also  a  duty  towards  the  Ukrainian  people,  as 
well  as  other  peoples  of  Europe,  to  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Council  of 
Allied  Powers  to  take  into  consideration  the  real  conditions  in  Ukraine. 

The  Government  of  Ukrainian  Peoples  Republic  has  the  honor  to 
ask  the  Supreme  Council  of  Allied  Powers  that  it  be  given  a  chance  to 
fight  epidemics  and  allow  free  importation  to  Ukraine  of  medicines 


24 


and  sanitary  supplies,  which  are  already  bought  in  the  Western  Eu¬ 
rope,  but  not  yet  delivered. 

The  Government  of  the  Ukrainian  Peoples  Republic  has  the  honor 
to  point  out  that  in  places  liberated  from  the  communistic  occupation 
an  energetic  work  is  going  on  for  reconstruction  and  reorganization 
of  economic  life  as  well  as  building  up  the  state  on  the  basis  of  purely 
democratic  principles. 

The  Government  of  Ukrainian  Peoples  Republic  has  the  honor  to  ask 
the  Supreme  Council  of  the  Allied  Powers  to  support  the  aims  of  the 
Ukrainian  people,  but  first  of  all  to  help  toward  physical  recovery 
of  the  country.  Without  necessary  measures  toward  general  physical 
recovery  Ukraine  will  become  the  prey  of  terrible  epidemics.  The 
physical  recovery  of  Ukraine  will  be  the  first  step  and  an  energetic  step 
toward  solution  of  the  Eastern  Problem  which  is  presently  engaging 
the  Supreme  Council  of  Allied  Powers. 

The  Government  of  Ukrainian  Peoples  Republic  is  full  of  hope  that 
the  Supreme  Council  of  Allied  Powers  will  undertake  real  measures 
toward  betterment  of  the  situation  in  Ukraine. 

S.  Petlura, 

The  President  of  Directorate  and  Supreme  Chief  of  Ukrainian 

Republican  Army. 

Jan.  22,  1920. 


